Pickups for JP Majesty

[LibbyDoe]

Y'all have steered me right before, maybe you can save my tone again? Just got a JP Majesty and I'm in love with the guitar... the pickups, not so much. The stock dreamcatcher bridge has great harmonics and stays tight with a boatload of gain, and while it's not as brittle as some ceramics it still has that ceramic sizzle that really isn't my bag. And the neck rainmaker really doesn't do it for me. I really don't care for most ceramic neck pickups - I think neck pickups need the alnico warmth for liquid lead tones with high gain.

I love the JB/59 and JB/A2P combos on 22 fret guitars and just wired up a 24 fret guitar with an Alt8/Sentient that sends me to tone nirvana every time I play it. I'd absolutely drop an Alt8/Sentient in this one too, except the Majesty is an electronic nightmare under the hood and you can't just whip out the soldering iron - it really only takes dimarzios. So I guess I'm asking is, does anyone know anything in the dimarzio line that gets in the ballpark of an Alt8 or JB bridge tone and a Sentient neck? I don't expect to nail the exact sound (and hey, different can be good!) but I'm really missing the organic character that I hear in my sd pickups.

Any suggestions?

[gsammo79]

The Dimarzio AT-1 is by most accounts JB-like. It's a damn good pickup from what ive heard.

As far as neck pickups go, i'm short on ideas.

[bigcupholder]

Maybe the Satchur8 and PAF Pro? I'm about to install this exact set (haven't tried the Satchur8 yet) but the PAF Pro is a classic for high gain leads on the neck pickup. It's hard to go wrong with the PAF Pro as a neck pickup.

The Satchur8 is described really similarly to the Alt 8 from most reviews I've read.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

[Masta' C]

If you like the fullness of the Dreamcatcher, but want a little less push, the AT-1 is a really great choice for the bridge. The AT-1 also has a slight upper-mid emphasis, which gives it more of a "JB" vibe and vocal-ness without being quite as spikey as the regular JB

JP was also a famous user of the Tone Zone and it can sound great in the right guitar.

For the neck, PAF Pro or a Fred are always solid choices. Of course, the Air Norton is what JP used for years, it pairs well with either the AT-1 or Tone Zone in the bridge, and it's wonderful for liquid lead tones like you describe.

[LibbyDoe]

Thanks all! That gives me some good places to start. I'll have to msg dimarzio since I'm told their pickup heights vary a bit and the majesty is direct mount, but at least I have some options for both neck and bridge now that can get me closer to the warmer organic vibe I'm looking for. The dreamcatcher/rainmaker are honestly rather impressive at what they do but they just aren't the tone I hear in my head so I'm looking forward to trying something new. Still wish I could just sub in some duncans, but if wishes were horses...

[Mikelamury]

It's not a traditional size humbucker but the Chopper is a AWESOME neck pickup. I tried several DiMarzio's in the neck,started w the FRED too warm for me, tried PAF 36th anniversary didn't like it at all, tried a single coil size humbucker The Chopper and solved all the problems I had and seemed to work great for all my different applications

[Mincer]

I am curious...what's going on with the pickups that you couldn't use Duncans?

[AdrianSD]

Just curious, why can't the 2 be replaced with Duncans, or some other vendor? Looked at the DiMarzio site and they are both 4 conductor passive pickups, what makes them special? I haven't seen the JP guitar with its wiring so far.

[AdrianSD]

I am curious...what's going on with the pickups that you couldn't use Duncans?

Haha you *just* beat me!

[Ashurbanipal]

I am curious...what's going on with the pickups that you couldn't use Duncans?

The OP would have to do some routing as DiMs have the small triangular mounting feet, and the Majesty pu cavities only really allow for DiM.

Various Ibanez guitars over the years were made like this too, and people had a harder time if they wanted to install Duncans (or other pups) in them.

[Masta' C]

Yes, it's possible to modify Duncans to fit, but it's not convenient. Also, there are other pickups from DiMarzio that will do what he's looking for

[Mincer]

Yes, you can either swap the baseplate or have someone cut the mounting tabs into a triangle (or do it yourself). Duncan actually does this for people, too.

[ToneFiddler]

....
Duncan actually does this for people, too.

does this qualify as shop floor custom?

[Mincer]

Nope.
But you can get a quote on how much they would charge. It doesn't show up in what is possible with Floor Shop Customs, but people have sent their pickups in to mod. If you are buying them directly from SD, call them and see how much they would charge for this modification.

[dave74]

Any choice will be an audition, and why would anyone want to do modifications for something to audition? Altering the tabs would void the return/exchange policy too.

Which Majesty is it? There are several and they have different wood combinations iirc. They are all mahogany necks though,,,,right? Don't do TZ if that's the case,,IMO.